Familial Duty
by hmweasley
Summary: When Andromeda runs away not long before her intended marriage to Lucius Malfoy, Druella and Cygnus must scramble for a way to maintain their family's pride in the face of betrayal.


**A/N: This was written for two challenges on the Hogwarts Challenges and Assignments forum. The first was the 365 Prompt Challenge, which included the plot point "a character runs away." The other is for the National Astrology Day Event, which challenges us to write about as many members of the Black family as possible. This story is for Druella, and I used a head canon from Someone aka Me:**

 **"Lucius was originally engaged to marry Andromeda. When Andromeda ran away, her parents hastily shifted the engagement to Narcissa and pretended the engagement to Andromeda never existed."**

Andromeda had been gone for nearly twenty-four hours before the humans of the house noticed her absence. The house elf realized as soon as the second meal was missed. She'd gone to check on her mistress, and when she'd found an empty room, she'd kept her mouth shut, not wanting to be blamed for a transgression she had played no part in.

When Andromeda didn't appear for dinner with the family, there were a few brief questions about what she might be doing, but no one suspected she wasn't in her room. She often locked herself away. They knew she would sneak down for food as soon as they were upstairs and wouldn't see her descent.

Druella was the first in the family to realize she was gone.

It was late at night, and Druella was ready for bed yet couldn't go to sleep until she was certain that everything was ready for the next day. Abraxas Malfoy would be expecting an answer that Druella could not guarantee Andromeda had.

When there was no answer to her knocking, she called through the door in her usual shrill voice.

"It's a simple decision. How can you not decide on a damn species of flower?"

She'd given Andromeda the choice between marigolds and hollyhocks a week ago, and the delay was doing nothing to build the Malfoys' confidence that a Black was a right choice for their heir's marriage.

When there was still no answer, Druella's anger overcame her, and she sent a strong hex at the doorknob, splintering the wood around the metal enough that the lock grew loose. She pushed too forcefully and felt satisfaction as the door hit the wall.

A split second later, her satisfaction was replaced by further anger as she took in the empty room. Perhaps her middle daughter was playing an unfunny joke on her. Or perhaps she had snuck out for her dinner and been lucky enough to not meet Druella on her way.

Those seemed like the most likely answers until Druella's eyes fell on the piece of parchment that laid in the center of Andromeda's bed.

Already feeling herself shake, she reached out to grab it, crumpling it in her fist.

XXX

It had taken a lot of effort for Druella to make it to her husband's study when all she'd wanted to do was raze Andromeda's room. The letter was a ball in her fist.

She didn't bother with knocking, and Cygnus glanced up from his desk in obvious annoyance at her sudden appearance. It was only seeing her furious expression that made him refrain from exploding with this own anger.

"What is it?" he asked impatiently.

Druella handed him the parchment without comment, and he regarded her suspiciously for a second before flattening it. She watched his face contort through a cycle of emotions, each one less pleasant than the last, as he read

"Don't."

His surprise at her command overwhelmed his anger for a moment before his eyes narrowed at her.

They both knew he'd been about to send the house elf after Andromeda. Druella knew his behavior inside and out. Her first priority when they were newlyweds had been learning everything she could about him. She had completed that job well. Even if she had failed as a parent, which she was sure he would remind her of once he had finished dealing with the more pressing parts of the situation.

"She's set to meet with the Malfoys tomorrow. Sneeky can be back with her within the hour, and no one needs to know of her transgression."

"They'll know," Druella replied, her voice shaking with intensity. "You know our daughter as well as I do. If she ran once, she'll run again. Restraint would be the only way of keeping her here, and what good will that do us after the marriage when Lucius Malfoy realizes that we've given him a wife who must be leashed? What will that do to our relationship with the Malfoys?"

Cygnus rubbed at his eyes, a rare show of weakness that Druella had only seen once before in their more than two decades of marriage.

"It's unwise to question the abilities of the Malfoy heir."

"I'm not questioning what he can do. I am merely questioning what he would want. Abraxas may live for decades yet, but Lucius will be the head of the House of Malfoy one day. When that day comes, will he wish to spend his time and energy on controlling Andromeda when he has more important business to attend to? Not to mention the required public appearances. Will he render her mute and show the rest of polite society that he has an errant wife?"

"You assume he won't learn how to control her more satisfactorily by then."

Druella said nothing, letting his own knowledge of their daughter shatter any notions he held that Lucius Malfoy could do what they'd tried to her entire life.

Lowering his head into his hands, Cygnus let out a growl. When he looked back at her, there was fire in his eyes. She stood her ground, clenching her fists at her side.

"We cannot afford to break an engagement with the Malfoys," he roared. "There is much this family has weathered, but there are limits to our influence."

She didn't need to tell him that the Blacks as an institution would weather the storm by blasting their branch from the family tree. Her husband's inferiority complex, stoked by Orion since his birth, had already allowed him to picture the scenario.

"There's no need for us to break the engagement."

Her words gave him pause. He watched her distrustfully, not speaking.

"I suppose you've forgotten your own daughter?" she said with a roll of her eyes. "Need I remind you, we have three?"

Cygnus' eyes widened.

"Narcissa," he breathed as if he had, in fact, forgotten of her.

He stood from his desk in one fluid motion.

"Bring her to me at once."

Druella raised an eyebrow at his demanding tone, but she didn't argue with him as she had in her younger years. As long as he was doing what she wanted him to, there was no need for the pointless dramatics that he so loved.

XXX

Druella smiled upon finding Narcissa sitting quietly in her room like the type of daughter Druella had worked to cultivate. She'd turned at Druella's knocking, but the journal open on the desktop hinted at what she'd been doing before the interruption.

Since she was a toddler, Narcissa had been the only well behaved child Druella and Cygnus could attest to having. Bella had always had her penchant for theatrics that got her into sticky situations she needed to be rescued from while Dromeda's own rebellion had been a quieter sort that had, nonetheless, inconvenienced the family a great deal more even before she'd run off to marry a Muggleborn.

Narcissa had come after Druella had learned from her past mistakes.

She crossed the room in quick strides and reached for Narcissa, stroking her hair before she broke the news.

"Your sister is gone."

"Dromeda?" Narcissa asked, her voice rising in alarm.

She pulled away from her mother, staring up at her with wide eyes from where she still sat in her desk chair.

"Gone where?" she asked.

Druella didn't answer, but the thin line of her lips was enough for Narcissa to come up with an answer of her own.

"Ted Tonks," Narcissa muttered, looking down at her clasped hands in her lap. "I can't believe she did it."

Druella raised an eyebrow.

"She spoke of the Mudblood to you?"

Narcissa cringed before offering her mother a slight nod.

"Once or twice. I didn't know she intended to run away. I merely thought it was a delusion that she'd relinquish once she was married. She never spoke of any plans. Just yesterday she was talking of the wedding."

Druella stroked her hair again, this time adding a quick pat on the head.

"I don't doubt your innocence, sweet child. Dromeda has a mind of her own, and you cannot be held accountable for her actions. You've done nothing to feel guilty for."

Narcissa sighed in relief and stood from her chair. She wrapped her mother in a tight hug that Druella was happy to return.

"I'm sorry," Narcissa whispered. "I'm sure you and Father are beside yourselves. What will the Malfoys think?"

"It's a concern," Druella admitted. "Your father and I had to put our heads together. We don't think it prudent to bring Andromeda back from wherever she has run off too. You know your sister well. Tell me, do you believe she'd stay?"

Narcissa bit her lip, a terrible habit Druella would need to break her of before the wedding. They'd let her get away with things in the past, but she was no longer a child, and now they needed to prepare her for marriage much faster than they had intended.

"No," Narcissa admitted. "She would run again. She's very fixated on that Muggleborn. She's spoken of him since Hogwarts."

Druella knew that there were few other places Andromeda could have met someone of such low birth without her parents' knowledge, but she still scowled at the confirmation that such a scandalous relationship had gone on for so long in such a public place. How had they managed to negotiate this marriage with the Malfoys if others knew of their daughter's dalliances?

She took comfort in her daughter's embrace for several seconds before she pushed her away, placing her hands on her shoulders.

"My sweet girl," she said, cupping one of Narcissa's cheeks, "I'm truly sorry to lay this on you because of your own sister's actions, but your father and I are convinced that the only way to save the family name is to offer your hand to Lucius Malfoy."

Narcissa's expression flattened into a mask, and Druella rejoiced at having raised a daughter capable of standing strong in the face of familial duty.

"Of course," Narcissa said stiffly.

Druella smiled, feeling her first real sense of relief since she'd discovered Andromeda's letter. She held Narcissa close again, whispering thank yous into her ear and rubbing her back as she felt her tremble.

XXX

Abraxas Malfoy was as furious as they had expected him to be, but Lucius had difficulty hiding his relief when told that Andromeda was no longer an option. When Narcissa was presented as his bride to be, he'd offered her a smile that, if nothing else, didn't carry the same dread Druella had sensed in him the first time he and Andromeda had spoken after their engagement.

Narcissa was as quiet as Druella had come to expect from her, nodding politely to anything Lucius spoke of.

As they observed from the side of the room, Druella met Cygnus' gaze, and it might have been the closest thing to a genuine smile they had shared since Narcissa's birth. It was hard to believe that just the night before they had lost one of their daughters forever. She hadn't even been burnt from the family tapestry yet, and Druella was far too concerned with attending to her soon-to-be son-in-law to spare her daughter a thought.

She watched Lucius' shoulders straighten as Narcissa laughed at a particularly terrible joke, and Druella let out a long breath.

The Blacks would be fine.

 **A/N: In my own mind, Narcissa had figured out for herself that Andromeda intended to run away and did nothing to stop her for two reasons:**

 **1\. She wanted Andromeda to be happy (including being kind of jealous that she was brave enough to marry for love) despite believing they had an obligation to their family.**

 **2\. She knew she'd be asked to marry Lucius instead, and while she didn't want to, she did think it was better for the family because she was willing to go along with it. And she wanted to help maintain her family's status.**

 **But you can interpret it however you want.**


End file.
